Presented to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future Subcommittee on Disposal

On September 13, 2010, the English River First Nation expressed interest in learning more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) site selection process to find an informed and willing community to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel (NWMO, 2010). This report summarizes the findings of an initial screening, conducted by Golder Associates Ltd., to evaluate the potential suitability of thirteen English River First Nation reserve areas against five screening criteria using readily available information.

The objective of the RISCOM II project is to share the knowledge of the context of radioactive waste management in various European countries and to see to what extent it is possible to apply more widely the RISCOM Model (Andersson et al., 1998) in order to improve the acceptability of radioactive waste management. Thus, the project aims to promote the development of processes involving transparency, as well as means involving greater participation of the public.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) touts the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as an environmentally friendly approach to provide virtually limitless energy to emerging economies around the world while reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation. DOE plans to reduce the amount of high-level radioactive waste for disposal in a national repository and reduce nuclear proliferation risks by recycling and converting fissionable materials into safer isotopes.

Worldwide activities related to the storage of spent (irradiated) nuclear power reactor fuel and highly-radioactive, long-lived wastes are summarized, with a review of the storage programs and plans of 26 nations. The focus of the report is on the application of dry storage techniques to spent fuel, although dry storage of long-lived wastes is also reviewed.

This summary volume outlines results that are covered in more detail in the final report of the Spent-Fuel Test-Climax project. The project was conducted between 1978 and 1983 in the granite Climax stock at the Nevada Test Site. Results indicate that spent fuel can be safely stored for periods of years in this host medium and that nuclear waste so emplaced can be safely retrieved. We also evaluated the effects of heat and radiation (alone and in combination) on emplacement canisters and the surrounding rock mass.

This report provides an overview of the scope and status of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Salt Repository Project (SRP) at the time when the project was terminated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987. The report can be used as a "roadmap" into the 10-year program of siting a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste in rock salt formations. Its purpose is to aid persons interested in the information developed during the course of this effort.

Understanding the Choices is the NWMO’s second discussion document, an important milestone in a three-year study (2002-2005) designed to recommend to the Government of Canada an approach to managing Canada’s used nuclear fuel for the long term. The report begins with an examination of the values and priorities of Canadians, and how the NWMO has used this understanding to build a framework to assess and compare management approaches.

This report reviews the work that has been done to establish the suitability of bedded salt formations for the containment of radioactive solid wastes and describes the nature of the additional investigations that are either under way or are scheduled to be carried out. It is believed that this work constitutes a valid technical justification for proceeding with the present plans to establish a demonstration repository at Lyons, Kansas.

Site Evaluation and Management Lessons Learned from Yucca Mountain

This document provides environmental input for certain decisions in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program for managing the transuranic radio-active waste generated in the national defense program. This final environ-mental impact statement was preceded by a draft statement published by the DOE in April 1979. Large quantities of radioactive waste have resulted from the production of nuclear weapons and the operation of military reactors in national defense programs. This waste includes both high-level waste (HLW) and transuranic (TRU) waste.

Nuclear waste disposal in the USA is a difficult policy issue infused with science, technology, and politics. This issue provides an example of the co-production of scientific knowledge and politics through public policy. The proponents of a repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, argue that their decision to go ahead with the site is based on ‘sound science’, but the science they use to uphold their decision is influenced by politics. In turn, the politics of site selection has been altered by the scientific knowledge produced.

In the early 1970s the federal government selected an area in southeastern New Mexico containing large underground salt beds as potentially suitable for radioactive waste disposal. An extensive site characterization program was initiated by the federal government. This site became the "Waste Isolation Pilot Plant," better known as WIPP. It is now 1997, over two decades after the initial selection of the New Mexico site as a potential radioactive waste repository.

This document provides environmental input for certain decisions in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program for managing the transuranic radio-active waste generated in the national defense program. This final environ-mental impact statement was preceded by a draft statement published by the DOE in April 1979. Large quantities of radioactive waste have resulted from the production of nuclear weapons and the operation of military reactors in national defense programs. This waste includes both high-level waste (HLW) and transuranic (TRU) waste.

Main events Licensing process proceeds according to plan Posiva aims to submit the construction license application in 2012. In 2011, research and analysis work continued to ensure the timely availability of results and related reports. The feedback provided by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority and other authorities for the preliminary licensing documentation submitted in 2009 was systematically reviewed in 2011, and steps were taken to ensure it is taken into account during the license submission phase.

With the first 100 days of the Obama Administration behind us, the Institute for 21st Century Energy presents this nuclear waste policy document that recounts the history of the country’s nuclear waste policy, discusses the mechanics of the issue, and offers specific recommendations to the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress.